


In the eye of the beholder

by fromthedeskoftheraven



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, Insecurity, Kissing, Self-Doubt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-19
Updated: 2016-02-19
Packaged: 2018-05-21 21:49:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6059332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fromthedeskoftheraven/pseuds/fromthedeskoftheraven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fili proves to his love that he's not too good to be true.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the eye of the beholder

You were busily drying glasses with a clean towel when you heard the heavy clunk of a stack of dishes being plonked onto the bar. Turning around, you saw the blond-bearded face you’d expected, wearing its usual rakish smirk, and you chuckled.

“You don’t have to do that, Fili.”

“I know,” he grinned, and returned to the table where his companions sat.

The little band of dwarves – Fili, his brother, their uncle, and various assorted friends – frequented the tavern in Ered Luin, often stopping in for a mug of ale or a simple meal at day’s end, when they’d finished with their smithing work. While the older dwarves were inclined to keep to themselves, mixing with their human neighbors only as often as was necessary, Fili and his brother Kili were breaths of fresh air: young, friendly, and, especially in Fili’s case, devastatingly handsome. Oh, you could appreciate Kili’s dark beauty – and judging by the attention he attracted, so did the rest of the town’s female population – but the blond elder of the two brothers was rugged, regal, smoldering, and had captured your imagination entirely.

As you carried the dishes back to the kitchen, passing them off to the boy who stood over the washbasin foaming with soap suds, a smile lingered about your lips, sparked by Fili’s kindness to you. Where the courtesies of some men were merely a facade, with lechery lurking beneath, you had always found him genuinely considerate, even to his habit of collecting the plates and bowls from the dwarves’ table to save you the trouble.

Still, you were surprised, when you returned to the bar, to find Fili leaning against the polished wood surface as though waiting for something…or someone. A smile lit his face when he saw you, and you couldn’t help but smile in return, though you self-consciously tucked your hair behind your ear, smoothing it.

“Would it be too forward to say you’ve got a beautiful smile?” he wondered, resting his elbows on the bar.

“Me?” you scoffed, shaking your head. “You’ve had too much ale, Master dwarf.”

“On my honor, I’ve been drinking water for the last hour,” he smiled easily. “Someone has to be responsible for getting Kili home. Our mother would skin me if he wound up in a ditch somewhere.”

A laugh escaped you, and he chuckled with you, deepening the dimples in his cheeks that you’d often daydreamed of kissing. He looked down briefly, running his fingers over the carved edge of the bar before speaking again, sounding uncharacteristically timid.

“Would you like to go for a walk with me sometime…maybe tomorrow? We could go to the meadow and see if the blackberries are ripe.”

You hesitated, looking around you as though expecting to find that this was some sort of joke, but no one seemed to be paying the two of you any mind. “You want to go for a walk with me?” you repeated, frowning.

Fili nodded. “I only thought – well, I see you here all the time, but I thought it would be nice to spend some time with you…just the two of us, I mean. Only if you wanted to,” he quickly added.

Disbelief clung to you, and you asked, skeptically, “Fili, how old are you?”

“Seventy-nine. Why?”

You snorted with laughter, quickly waving your hand in apology. “I’m so sorry, it’s just…I’ll never get used to the difference in dwarven ages.”

He chuckled and nodded in acknowledgement, offering, “I’m told that in a human lifespan, I’d be about twenty.”

With a sigh, you said ruefully, “if I were a dwarf, I’d probably be a hundred.”

“What if you were?” Fili shrugged. “What’s a few years in the scope of a lifetime?”

His face was so earnest, so hopeful, so kind that you found yourself taking a deep breath and nodding. “I’d love to go for a walk with you, Fili,” you said, feeling the blood rush to your cheeks.

The delighted smile that he bestowed upon you nearly took your breath away. “Meet me in the square at noonday?” he suggested.

“I’ll see you then,” you agreed, feeling for all the world as though you would wake up any moment and find that this had all been the loveliest of dreams. 

* * *

Your step was slow as you walked to the square the next day, gripped by the fear that Fili wouldn’t be there, that there had been some mistake. But as soon as you entered the cobblestone plaza, you caught a glimpse of his golden hair where he stood waiting for you by the bubbling fountain, smiling to outshine the sun and holding a blue wildflower in his hand.

“My lady,” he grinned, offering you the blossom.

“Thank you, Fili,” you smiled shyly, and the two of you ambled through the bustling streets of the town and out into the quiet countryside.

You walked together down tree-lined lanes, talking of your families, your work, your interests. He told you about his ancestral home of Erebor, far away to the east, farther than you’d ever dreamed of traveling, and of his gruff uncle’s hardships after a dragon had claimed the mountain of which he was meant to be king. In the sundrenched meadow, you picked sweet blackberries and ate them, and Fili took your hand in his to lead you to sit beside him among the warm grasses that waved in the gentle breeze.

A contentment you had never known washed over you in his attentive company, and yet, there was a nagging question lurking in your mind that refused to be ignored.

“Fili,” you asked hesitantly, “why did you want to be here with me?”

“What do you mean?” he frowned.

“Well, it’s just…well, look at you. You’re young and handsome and…wonderful,” you said bashfully, dropping your eyes to your skirts. “Truth be told, I don’t have much to offer you.”

“Who says so?” he asked sternly, reaching to lift your chin with a gentle hand, his face settling into a fond smile. “Do you know what I see when I look at you?”

You shook your head, and he sighed.

“I see a beautiful smile – no, I mean it – and eyes that put me in mind of quiet forests and fawns’ coats and new grass in the spring. I see someone who works hard without complaining, who remembers what everyone likes best because she’s kind, someone whose company makes me forget that I’m far away from a home I’ve never known.” He reached to tuck your hair behind your ear, his tone becoming more tender still. “I see a woman who would make me the happiest man in the world if she would think of courting me.”

Tears filled your eyes, and you laughed for sheer joy. “Oh, Fili,” you beamed, “did you ever imagine that I would say no?”

Fili’s face reflected your happiness, and he lifted your hand to his lips, their touch on your skin making you tingle with anticipation as he slowly leaned close to you, resting his hand on your cheek. His lips were warm and soft on yours and his braided mustache was ticklish, making you smile against his mouth. Your fingers caressed his bearded cheek, tentatively at first but growing ever more sure, and you sighed as you parted.

“There’s just one more thing,” Fili murmured, and he began to gently separate strands of your hair, dimples making an appearance once again as he carefully wove a braid that he fastened with one of his own silver clips. “It is a courting braid…among the dwarves, a sign of belonging to someone,” he explained, “if you don’t mind?” 

You ran your fingers over the braid’s smooth waves, examining the engravings on the clip. “Mind? Never. It’s beautiful,” you assured him, adding uncertainly, “am I to make one for you?” 

“Aye, you can, if you like.”

With a radiant smile, you buried your hands in his thick blond hair as you’d always longed to do, adding another braid to his assortment and finishing it with a leather thong that he pulled from his boot. “There,” you said with satisfaction. “I am no dwarrowdam, but I hope it will do.” 

“It’s perfect,” Fili assured you, drawing you to him with an arm around your waist, his lips meeting yours tenderly. “Just like you.”


End file.
